When they reached the bar where Hayden’s other friends were gathered, Hayden held the door for Liz and she quickly passed through. Rubbing her hands together to try to bring life back into them, she waited for Hayden to follow her. He planted a kiss on her forehead and then took up warming her hands for her. Then he laced their fingers together and pulled her through the crowd.

His track friends were clustered around the back end of the counter with beers in hand. She had met most of them at the beginning of the semester when she had helped Hayden move, and had gotten to know them a little better over the last month.

When she got close enough, Hannity greeted her with a hug and pulled her into the center of their group. Three of the guys on the team were named Andrew, so they all went by their last names: Bynum, Cush, and Lightsey. The other guys in attendance were Jake Morgan and Henry Evans, who also went by their last names. It was confusing and had taken her a while to get used to.

“Glad you showed up, Lane,” Bynum said, as they clapped each other on the back.

“Yeah, how was your cute holiday party?” Hannity asked. He poked at the bows still in Liz’s hair and she rolled her eyes. She had completely forgotten those were there.

“It was great. Free food. Cheap drinks. About what you can expect,” Hayden told them.

“I like your outfit, Liz,” Lightsey said with a wink. He was the youngest of the bunch and a known flirt, but with little success.

“Thanks. If you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to go find the restroom,” Liz said. The guys parted to allow her to pass and pointed down the dark hallway nearly right behind them. She darted away from them and found the women’s restroom at the end of the hall.

After relieving herself, Liz pried the Christmas bows out of her hair and finger-combed the waves into submission. She didn’t think it really did the trick, but she didn’t have another option. At least Massey had taken her jingle bell necklace, and Liz had switched off the lights on her sweater. There was nothing she could do about the tennis shoes. Why hadn’t she thought of a change of clothes?

Deciding that was as good as it was going to get, Liz walked out of the restroom and back down the hallway. She stopped short of the exit when she heard her name from one of the guys.

“No, seriously, she’s really f**king hot,” Hannity said.

Liz peered around the corner and saw all of the guys nodding, agreeing. Hayden just shrugged. They hadn’t seen her, and while it felt wrong to eavesdrop, she was curious.

“Are you telling me you still haven’t slept with her?” Bynum asked, gesturing with his hands.

“It’s not a big deal,” Hayden told them.

Liz’s cheeks burned even as Hayden defended her. She knew guys talked about this shit. She and Victoria were ten times as vulgar, but somehow it embarrassed her in this context. They didn’t know that she was merely steps from them, but how long did they think she took in the bathroom?

“I mean, we thought you were g*y when you claimed you were hung up on this girl all year,” Lightsey said with a shrug.

“You’re one to talk, Lightsey,” Cush yelled, punching him in the arm.

“Back the f**k off, Cush.”

“Fucking make me!”

“Christ,” Hannity cried, knocking Cush back. “You sprinters need to get off the juice.”

The guys all laughed. Steroids were banned even for the club team, but everyone joked that the sprinters used it to take seconds off of their time.

“Is she a virgin or something? What’s the hang-up?” Hannity asked. “You guys have been hanging out for weeks and you haven’t even tried anything? She doesn’t seem like a prude to me. So, what’s wrong with her?”

“There’s nothing wrong with her, you ass**le,” Hayden said, shaking his head. Whatever else he said was lost to her as she took a few steps back toward the bathroom and leaned her head against the wall.

It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter.

It had only been a month. Why were guys such dicks about that shit? She and Hayden didn’t have to sleep together in the first month. It was a perfectly reasonable amount of time. Hayden wouldn’t push. He respected her and her decisions. Plus, he had defended her to his friends.

They were just being dudes. They never would have said that shit if they knew she had been listening. She just needed to calm down, laugh it off. There was nothing wrong with her.

Liz took a deep breath and walked out into the bar with her head held high.

“Lizzie,” Hayden said, reaching out for her. She let him draw her into him. “You took out your bows.”

“I figured I didn’t need to look as much like a Christmas bomb away from the party.”

“I thought you looked cute.”

“Thanks,” she murmured, unsuccessfully stifling a yawn. She hadn’t even thought that she was tired, but all of the energy had drained right out of her at those comments.

“Hey, do you want to get out of here?” Hayden asked.

Liz nodded. She really did want to get far, far away from this moment. “Are you okay to drive?” She hadn’t paid attention to how much he had been drinking, but after her friend Justin’s DUI, she wasn’t going to make the mistake of getting in the car with someone who had been drinking ever again.

“Yeah. I only had one at the other party,” he told her as he placed his mostly full beer back on the bar.

“Y’all aren’t leaving, are you?” Bynum asked.

“Yeah, man, we’re going to head out. Liz has class early on Fridays.”

“All right. Y’all take care.”

Hayden shook hands with all of the guys. A glint of mischief was evident in Hannity’s eyes as he stared between them. He gave her another hug that she tried to escape, making him laugh. And then they were free and walking back toward Hayden’s car, getting inside, then driving to her house.

Liz let Hayden open the door for her, and she trudged inside, exhaustion taking over. She grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a sweater from a drawer and walked into the bathroom to change out of her silly Christmas attire. She returned a minute later to find Hayden looking at the pictures on her dresser.

He turned around when she walked back into the room and shot her a dazzling smile. “Hey, gorgeous.”

She bit her lip and walked over to him. Hayden wound his finger through her hair and her eyes closed of their own accord. He ran his hands along her scalp and over the tense muscles in her neck. She couldn’t help it when a moan escaped her lips.